26 May 1983

Youth participation in social and economic development and their exercise of the rights to life, employment and education

The Economic and Social Council,

Drawing attention to the exceptional importance of all forms of assistance in the large-scale integration of young people into the social and economic development of their respective countries for ensuring the economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights of youth, in particular the rights of youth to life, education and employment in conditions of peace,

Convinced that youth can make a valuable contribution to efforts to create a new international economic order,

Considering that States should take measures at the domestic level to create conditions for young persons in which they can play an effective and active role in the social and economic development of their respective countries,

Recalling General Assembly resolutions 36/28 of 13 November 1981, by which the Assembly endorsed the Specific Programme of Measures and Activities to be undertaken prior to and during the International Youth Year, 37/48 of 3 December 1982 on the International Youth Year: Participation, Development, Peace, and 37/49 of 3 December 1982 on efforts and measures for securing the implementation and the enjoyment by youth of human rights, particularly the right to education and to work in conditions of peace,

Recalling further Council resolutions 1979/16 of 9 May 1979 and 1981/16 of 6 May 1981, in which, in particular, it recognized the importance of integrating young people into the overall life of society and of taking fully into account their special needs when formulating national plans and programmes,

Recognizing the fact that insufficient education and unemployment among young people limit their opportunities for participating in the process of development, and in this context emphasizing the importance of secondary and higher education, and also of the access of youth to suitable programmes of vocational and technical training,

Considering that in many countries the majority of young people, under the prevailing conditions of social and economic crisis, are facing serious problems in the exercise of their rights, mainly as regards employment and education,

1. Takes note with satisfaction of the report of the Secretary-General on the situation of youth in the 1980s;

2. Notes with concern that at present there is a rapidly growing number of unemployed young people in the world, many of whom have never had work, and that with the growth of unemployment it is becoming increasingly difficult to implement the basic social and economic rights of youth, especially the rights to life, employment and education;

3. Strongly urges all Governments, all governmental and non-governmental organizations and interested United Nations bodies to give priority to the formulation and implementation of effective measures for ensuring the employment of young people, for the implementation of their rights to social and economic development, education and employment in conditions of peace, and also to make provision in national development plans and country budgets for the adoption of specific programmes and for allocation of the necessary resources for ensuring the employment, education and vocational training of youth;

4. Invites all interested United Nations bodies to take an active part in the implementation of the Specific Programme of Measures and Activities which has been developed in the United Nations and is to be implemented during the International Youth Year and in the preceding period;

5. Requests the Secretary-General to take into account the views expressed in the Commission for Social Development concerning ways and means of realizing the rights of youth, in particular the rights to employment and education, and also the provisions of the present resolution, in the preparation of documentation for the third session of the Advisory Committee for the International Youth Year: Participation, Development, Peace;

6. Resolves to consider at the twenty-ninth session of the Commission for Social Development the progress achieved in connection with the participation of young people in the development of their respective countries and in the realization and exercise of their rights to life, employment and education.